A tire rotation involves moving a vehicle's tires from one position on the vehicle to another to help achieve even tire tread wear. Tire tread wear can be uneven for a variety of reasons including vehicle front and rear weight difference, vehicle driving maneuvers, improper wheel alignment, etc. Depending on the vehicle and tire manufacturer specifications, a tire rotation may be recommended every 5,000-10,000 miles. A tire rotation pattern can include moving the back tires to the front and the front tires to the back, but crossing them when moving them to front, back, or both. Tires can be also moved side to side, or only front to back and back to front without any crossing. Other tire rotation patterns are also possible. In addition to providing even tread wear, a tire rotation may avoid an oversteer condition and may help provide a balanced vehicle handling and traction.
In addition, tire pressure monitoring (TPM) systems have been used in a variety of vehicles to monitor and alert a driver when a tire pressure falls below a certain level. TPM systems currently exist that employ pressure sensors that have unique identification numbers and are mounted at each wheel of a vehicle. The vehicle is programmed with the location of each sensor so that, if a sensor reports an under-pressure condition, the vehicle will know and identify which tire needs servicing. In case of a tire rotation, the vehicle is reprogrammed with the sensors' new locations. Depending on the type of TPM system used, reprogramming a vehicle's TPM system can be performed automatically when a vehicle is driven, by manually performing at least some functions such as pushing a reprogramming button inside the vehicle, using the vehicle key fob, or by a service technician at a service station using a special reprogramming tool.